Gothic Architecture and Its Rose Windows.
Gothic architecture originated in France during the twelfth century, dominating the architecture for the next four hundred years in Western Europe. Gothic architecture spread throughout the entire continent, reaching places like Scandinavia to the Byzantine provinces of Central Europe. By 1400, Gothic had become the universal style of building in the Western world, and included many types of structures. Gothic architects designed town halls, royal palaces, courthouses and hospitals. It was in the service of the Church that the Gothic style attained its most meaningful expression, for the Church was the most inexhaustible builder of the Middle Ages, providing the widest scope for the development of architectural ideas and calling forth the best talents. .
Traditional cathedrals like Norte-Dame, Paris contain the conventional elements of Gothic. On the exterior, there are triumphal arch doorways, clerestory, flying buttresses, spire, pinnacles, gargoyles, transept, apse, and rose windows. On the interior, there are side aisles, ribbed vaults, pointed arches, three-story elevation, gallery, triforium, ambulatory, narthex, crossing apse, and a nave. A vast majority of the well-known cathedrals like Durham Cathedral and St. Peters in Rome and others around Europe contain most of the noted Gothic elements. .
Grace Cathedral has French and Spanish influences. The block on which Grace Cathedral sits on was a gift from the Crocker family. Since Grace was not built during the Gothic period, it contains a hybrid of multiple periods. While one takes a stroll around the cathedral, he/she may notice that flying buttresses and gargoyles are missing from the traditional Gothic architecture. There are a few monstrous objects on the spire, but are not used for drainage purposes. So they cannot be officially noted as gargoyles. The best view of the spire, apse and pinnacles is on Jones Street.